Amie Fender, an employee at OfficeMax in Henderson, demonstrates a laser pointer Friday. The Henderson City Council has banned the sale of such pointers to minors and enacted other rules to prevent the misuse of lasers. Photo by Jeff Scheid.

The man with the laser pointer probably never realized just how close he came to getting shot.

On a night almost 10 years ago, off-duty Henderson police officer Craig Seibert and his wife were sitting on their couch watching a movie when they were startled by what sounded like an explosion or a gunshot.

When Seibert went outside to investigate, he heard another bang and saw people screaming and running around in the street. He ran inside, told his wife to call 911 and headed back out with his gun and his radio.

As he approached the commotion, he saw a man lying flat on the roof of a shed and pointing something at a group of Seibert's neighbors. Then he noticed the

telltale red dot of a laser moving across his neighbors' heads and chests -- just as it might if it was the laser sight on a firearm.

"I pointed my gun at him and told him to show me his hands. He said, 'Dude, I'm just screwing around,' " said Seibert, now a sergeant in charge of the department's training division. "If he would have pointed that laser at me, I think I would have shot him. I don't think I would have had any choice but to shoot him, no ifs, ands or buts about it."

Based on that incident and a handful of others involving police officers, the Henderson City Council voted Tuesday to restrict who is allowed to own a laser pointer and what they can do with it.

It is now illegal in Henderson to shine a laser in someone's eyes or aim one at an emergency responder or his vehicle. If you're under the age of 18, you are no longer allowed to carry a laser pointer outside of your home, and selling a laser pointer to a minor is now a misdemeanor offense.

In addition to Seibert's story, Assistant City Attorney Ron Sailon said the other story that prompted him to write the new ordinance involved "a high-ranking police official" who had a laser pointer aimed into his home and onto the chest of a friend. Sailon said the officer told his friend to drop to the floor and then ran outside with his weapon drawn to track down the culprit.

"You could see how something like that could have resulted in an absolute tragedy," Sailon said. "It's the same sort of thing that's being reported by officers all over the country."

But not everyone likes the new rules.

Lee Rowland, staff member for the American Civil Liberties Union in Nevada, called it "a hugely overbroad tactic" that needlessly infringes on the rights of juveniles.

"Basically, the ACLU has no problem with the (council) enacting rules to address the very real danger of laser pointers being used in a way that could cause harm to a police officer or the public," she said. "But the way to fix this problem is not to criminalize all possession of an otherwise legal item."

Instead, Rowland encouraged the city to write a "more precise law to actually address the problem."

She said as much during Tuesday's City Council meeting, but Councilman Jack Clark saw nothing wrong with the ordinance.

"To me, this is not a law designed to get people in trouble. It is designed to keep people alive," Clark said. "If I have to infringe on the right of a 14-year-old to be an idiot, then so be it."

Sailon said the new ordinance mirrors those enacted in other cities. It is also similar in style to an existing city code that prohibits minors from possessing spray paint and bars stores from selling it to them, he said.

Las Vegas and North Las Vegas also have enacted bans on the sale of spray paint and large permanent markers.

Don Schmidt is a district manager for OfficeMax, which sells laser pointers so customers can shine a light on charts during business presentations, for instance. He hadn't heard anything about the new city code on Friday, but he said his company's store in Henderson would do whatever is necessary to adhere to the rules.

Schmidt said local OfficeMax stores stopped selling large permanent markers two or three years ago after they were banned for sale to minors under the spray paint ordinance. It was an easy decision to make, he said, since they seemed to be selling fewer of the pens than they were losing to shoplifters.

Sgt. Seibert said he likes the new laser pointer ordinance, and he hopes people take it as seriously as they have the spray paint ban, especially where minors are concerned. "I think it's enforced really well here. It's not just turning them over to their parents and saying, 'Don't do it again.' "

As for the man the sergeant almost shot, Seibert said he was never arrested because "there was nothing to arrest him for."